Date:23/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/23/stories/2006062304350600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

A.P. local bodies polls can be held: court

Legal Correspondent

Division Bench stays order quashing election notification

"Constitution bars courts' interference in poll process"

Government says it has spent Rs. 40 crore on polls

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission and the Government heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday when a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court stayed operation of the single judge's order quashing the notification for elections to Panchayat Raj bodies.

The bench said that it would not be in the interests of the public to withhold the electoral process but posted the main writ appeal for June 26.

Amid an air of expectancy about the outcome of the case, the bench headed by Chief Justice G. S. Singhvi read the interim orders in the jam-packed Court No. 1 at 3.45 p.m. after hearing counsel from both sides in the morning. It recorded the fact that the text of the judgment of the single judge was not available even post-lunch.

Neither the Government nor the State Election Commission reacted immediately to the judgment that will facilitate the continuation of the poll process, which is more than half way through.

Congress workers, however, burst crackers in Gandhi Bhavan just as Telugu Desam supporters had done on Tuesday outside their party office when the election notification was quashed by single judge P. S. Narayana on the ground that there were no valid electoral rolls.

The bench took serious note of the contentions made by Advocate-General C. V. Mohan Reddy that elaborate arrangements had already been made and a sum of Rs.40 crore spent on the elections.

It said that there was a clear bar under Article 243- O of the Constitution on interference of the courts and referred to the `Ponnuswamy' case. However, the bench noted that the full text of the impugned judgment was still to be seen.